My research examines various aspects of electoral politics, including the formation and evolution of party systems, voting behavior, and clientelism. My first book, which is being published by Cambridge University Press, explains the extraordinary success of regional political parties in India. It points to the importance of clientelism, coalition government, and elite factional alignments within states to explain why, when, and where regional parties are electorally successful in India. The book also offers more general lessons for thinking about regional parties around the world as well as insight into how to understand party systems in countries where clientelism, patronage, and machine politics are common. I am currently in the early stages of a second book-length project on pre-election alliances (also known as seat-sharing agreements) between political parties. We usually think of political parties as competing with one another, especially at election time. This project asks: Why do parties sometimes cooperate with one another? It aims to understand the conditions under which parties cooperate with one another and the implications of such cooperation for voters.

My other research has examined the impact of electoral rules on small parties, the origins of individual-level corruption perceptions, the impact of candidate characteristics on election outcomes, and the conditions under which dominant parties decline. Most of my work focuses on India, where I have conducted nearly two years of fieldwork, primarily in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. My research has been supported by the British Academy, Oxford's John Fell OUP Research Fund, MIT's Center for International Studies, and the National Security Education Program.